The Human Emperor
The Human Emperor - Chapter 25: Wang Chong’s Childhood Playmate

Youngster Wei was the son of Duke of Wei. At the same time, he was also Wang Chong’s childhood playmate. This child had average talents; others were able to comprehend the Horse Stance Fist with a single look, but this lad took three days.

If others had such inferior talent, they would have long given up on martial arts and pursued an academic route instead. However, this lad was born with an obstinate personality. The more he was unable to accomplish a task, the more he was driven to do it.

Not only so, despite lacking talent, he liked to spar with others. Furthermore, he liked to challenge others in the ring, betting their wealth on it.

Duke of Wei was someone who was skilled in management and possessed great wealth. Despite Youngster Wei’s monthly allowance of several gold taels, he often ended up in the same state as Wang Chong.

Not only was the money in his pocket lacking, sometimes, Wang Chong even had to pay for the alcohol fee while drinking together.

Wang Chong was also left completely speechless by him.

If it went as it did in the previous world, this lad was about to be done in by someone and duped of his money. Even though this fellow had often lost in the past as well, he had never lost so badly, to the point of even almost losing his underwear.

Furthermore, Youngster Wei could not let his family know of the matter. In order to repay his debt, this lad had to tighten his wallet and munch on six months of white radish.

The reason why Wang Chong remembered this incident was because Youngster Wei had spoken of it several times before him in his previous life. Every time, he would have a pitiful look on his face, as though he had been ravaged by an elephant.

Doing a rough calculation, today happened to be the day which this fellow was going to lose his money.

“Youngster Wei, don’t say that I didn’t come to save you.”

Wang Chong scoffed inside.

Wang Chong wasn’t in a hurry to make a move. If not, Youngster Wei’s duel gambling addiction wouldn’t be cured. Even though he was agitated into the matter and played into the other party’s hands, he was still partly responsible for this incident. If he didn’t agree to it, nothing would have happened. He had to learn his lesson.

Wang Chong looked at the ring. In the of the ring, the sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man was chuckling. It was clear that he was toying with Youngster Wei. Given his strength, he could have ended this battle long ago. Yet, he intentionally chose to humiliate his opponent before the crowd using such a method.

Everytime Youngster Wei crashed onto the floor, the surroundings would roar in laughter.

“…Since you were the one who chose to act so arrogantly, then you can’t blame anyone for this. You were looking for it!”

Wang Chong looked at the sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man and gauged that it was about time for him to make a move.

“Youngster Wei, Horse Stance Crouching Elbow! Sparrowhawk Twist!”

Amidst the bustling crowd, Wang Chong’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft. However, upon hearing his voice, Youngster Wei shuddered. It was almost involuntarily that he followed Wang Chong’s words to execute the moves. He crouched and pulled his legs close to himself. When the sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man charged forward to grab him with a Cloud Hands, Youngster Wei suddenly executed a Sparrowhawk Twist, doing a backflip and kicking the young man on his face.

Peng!

After suffering this kick, the young man fell six to seven zhang away and sprawled on the floor.

1 zhang = 3.33 meters

Weng!

The air of the Eight Gods Pavilion seemed to have been sucked empty in an instant. The cheering crowd suddenly turned completely silent. Seeing the towering young man being sent flying with a kick, every single one of them was flabbergasted.

“Who was it? Who was the one who was spouting nonsense!”

The young man who was sprawled on the floor flew into a rage. He stared at the surroundings with a ferocious glare.

The surroundings were completely silent. No one said anything.

“Hehe, Gao Fei! What are you talking about? If you can still fight on, get up! Otherwise, kowtow to me and admit your defeat.”

On the other end, Youngster Wei was overjoyed. He knew whose voice it was and in that instant, it was near complete instincts that he followed the other party’s words and executed the moves. He didn’t expect that it would be so effective.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he had fallen in love with that ‘bastard’ who advised him from the shadows!

“Hmph! Don’t get gleeful! If not for my carelessness, given those amateur martial arts of yours, do you think that you can defeat me?”

The young man named Gao Fei was enraged. Exerting force against the floor, he pushed himself up and charged at Wei Hao.

Boom!

The air boomed and the massive shadow of a fist whipped across empty air, flying straight toward Youngster Wei. The other party had executed Conveying Arm Fist against Youngster Wei.

Having sent flying by a single kick of Youngster Wei in public, Gao Fei felt extremely humiliated. Angered, he finally decided to use his full strength.

“Not good!”

The face of Youngster Wei paled and all the goosebumps on his arms stood on end. The martial art Gao Fei had executed was much more formidable than what he had used previously.

“Coiling Roots of the Old Tree!”

“Green Dragon Crouching on the Bridge!”

“Metal Cable Traversing the River!”

Wang Chong smiled. He had seen the sight before him clearly and immediately offered Youngster Wei pointers. These three were movements which Youngster Wei were adept in.

Boom!

The first move, Youngster Wei bent down, as though an old tree’s roots coiling around the ground. At the same time, the heavy punch grazed his hair.

Youngster Wei could even feel his skin going numb by the shock wave.

Boom!

When Gao Fei switched to another move and a left-hand fist carrying intense strength came flying toward Youngster Wei, the latter’s body became soft as though a strand of noodle and bent backward, as though a green dragon crouching on a bridge, thus dodging another attack.

“My turn!”

Youngster Wei’s eyes gleamed. Even without Wang Chong’s pointer, he would have known what to do. He roared furiously and as though a bent bamboo, he bounced forward and used the momentum to execute Metal Cable Traversing the River.

Boom!

The fist crashed heavily on Gao Fei’s chest. Youngster Wei had used his full strength behind the blow. Gao Fei’s complexion turned pale, then red. Boom, he flew backward as though a cannon ball and crashed through the fence, destroying several round tables before falling to the ground.

“Hahaha, I’ve won! I’ve won! I’ve struck it rich this time! Gao Fei, you bastard. And all of you bastards as well, to dare to bet that I would lose, I’ll see how you will leave without your underwears today!”

Youngster Wei looked at Gao Fei who was sent flying and howled in delight.

That few words caused half of the entire Eight Gods Pavilion to be silenced. All of the eyes glared at Gao Fei in resentment.

“Gao Fei, you trash. You can’t even defeat a Wei Hao?”

“To cause me to lose so much money, you don’t have to bother coming to Eight Gods Pavilion anymore!”

“If I were to see you again, I will have my men beat you up!”

“Pui! How unlucky!”

…

The scions in the surroundings who had lost money ranted angrily. In the Eight Gods Pavilion, Wei Hao was a ‘God of Fortune’. As long as he was involved in a duel gamble, everyone would be able to profit from it.

The stakes involved in this battle was extremely heavy. Initially, they thought that they would be able to earn a small fortune. Never would they expect that Gao Fei would be so useless as to lose against him.

Wei Hao ignored Gao Fei, who was being criticized severely at this moment, turned around and flew toward Wang Chong with his arms wide.

“Hahaha, my good brother. You have finally come to the Eight Gods Pavilion to see me!”

Wei Hao was overjoyed. He hugged Wang Chong tightly and burst into laughter.

“You sure are my good brother. If not for your help, I would have lost tragically this time!”

“Since you know it, you shouldn’t gamble so much next time. At the very least, take a look at your opponent first. This fellow is much stronger than you.”

Wang Chong chided him with a smile.

“Hehe, that won’t do. I have started duel gambling with others since I was five. I would rather lose money and munch on white radishes than to give up on duel gambling.”

Wei Hao grinned.

Wang Chong was speechless, he could only shake his head in disapproval.

“Wait a minute! Wei Hao, this match isn’t counted!”

Suddenly, a fierce roar echoed. Gao Fei had climbed up and howled toward Wei Hao and Wang Chong’s direction.

“Why? Gao Fei, do you want to go against your words?”

Wei Hao heard the roar and his eyebrows shot up. He turned around and look at the other party with a displeased look.

“Who was the one who helped you previously? You have had someone’s assistance and violated the rules of the duel! The heck, who was the one who spoke previously, come out! Get your ass out here!”

Gao Feng bellowed angrily.

If not for the bastard helping him from the crowd, how could that fellow Wei Hao, given his capabilities, defeat him?

“You are looking for me?”

Hearing those words, Wang Chong smiled and walked out of the crowd.

Seeing Wang Chong step out from the sea of silk-robed young masters, Gao Fei’s eyes narrowed. A savage gleam flashed across his eyes. But before he could rage out, Wei Hao had burst into laughter and stepped forward.

“Hahaha, lad! I knew that it was you!”

Wei Hao walked forward and hugged Wang Chong.

“Gao Fei, you can pop whatever you want into your mouth, but be careful of what comes out of it. Which eye of yours saw that I flouted the rules of the duel? Did I gang up with someone else against you? Or did my brother step into the ring? Right, I will tell you now. This isn’t just anyone, he is my good brother, Wang Chong!”

Wei Hao turned around and looked at Gao Fei and the crowd with a proud expression.

“Youngster Wei, you should cut down on the bootlicking! …”

Wang Chong burst into laughter. Just as he was about to get Wei Hao to keep a low profile, he suddenly heard gasps of shock in the surrounding. Wang Chong lifted his head and noticed that there was something amiss with the gazes the crowd directed toward him. It was totally different from how they looked at him before!

Even Gao Fei’s eyes carried fear and respect, a huge contrast from the furious glare he had on before.

“Hm?”

Wang Chong frowned, taken aback by the changes.

“Hehe! Why are you so surprised! You are already a celebrity in the capital.”

Wei Hao whispered by Wang Chong’s ear:

“That proud and aloof Yao Feng is nicknamed as one of the Eight Talents of the younger generation in the capital. Usually, he wouldn’t even spare a gaze for anyone else. Even if we met with him, we would have to respectfully address him as Yao gongzi.”

“However, such an incredible figure was beaten to a pulp by you, to the point that Old Master Yao went to report the incident up to His Majesty. This matter had caused quite a storm in the capital. There isn’t a single scion who isn’t aware of the matter and everyone is impressed by you!”

“Now, everyone is saying that you are a lion who had been crouching in the shadows, keeping a low profile when you are actually even more impressive than Yao Feng!”

Wei Hao slapped Wang Chong’s shoulders and said proudly.

What lion or whatsoever, Youngster Wei actually didn’t know anything much. All he knew was that Wang Chong was his buddy, and now that his buddy is famous, it meant that he had become famous as well! Hahaha…

Wang Chong was truly astonished!

Before this, Wang Chong was still thinking about how he should work along with his cousin Wang Zhu Yan in dispelling the negative rumors about him in the Great Tang Empire. He didn’t expect that he would reap such an unexpected benefit from the incident.

Sensing the gazes of respect from his surroundings, Wang Chong suddenly felt that the reward the incident in the Vast Crane Pavilion brought him wasn’t just limited to his clan.

The Great Tang Empire had countless scions and every single one of them was incomparably arrogant. They don’t submit easily to anyone.

If he was able to make a name for himself in this circle, it might turn out to be useful for his future plans!